Chapter IV: The Wolf and The Puppet – The Thrice Setting Nightmare

7 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.

Inside a little bedroom lit by a light bulb, a girl with long black hair quickly woke up in sweat. The strand of hair on top of her head clunkily waved as she touched her neck. It was intact, not even a single scratch. 

She let out a deep sigh – her strand bowed too to emphasize her relief. 

"That hair on your head is weird."

Alexandra froze.

Someone suddenly sat on her bed, it was a girl around her age with short brown hair, a turquoise left eye, an eyepatch, and a nun's outfit. The girl pointed Alexandra with her bandaged right index finger. "I took the liberty to dress you up this time."

Trembling, Alexandra noticed she was indeed dressed in the same nun's outfit as the girl's.

"You… You…"

"—are real? Yes, I am. And yes, I did kill you once. That was an accident though. But, I will do it again if you try to escape."

"... How—"

"I turned back in time obviously."

"What?! Nonsense! That… That isn't possible even using bibliomancy!"

Shogo pointed the wall at her left. "There's a clock on the wall before you. Can you read it?"

"Huh?"

Alexandra turned the head toward the wall in front of her. There was indeed a clock there.

"Could you read the time, please?" Shogo asked. 

"What?"

"I can help if you don't know how to. It is—"

"6.09 PM! I can still—"

Shogo stabbed Alexandra in the head with a knife in her right hand. Her vision was obscured.

She was dead.

***

7 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.

Inside a little bedroom lit by a light bulb, a girl with long black hair cried of terror as she woke up. Quickly she looked around the room. She was looking for someone; someone she wished to not be there, someone she didn't want to be there. But she knew her wish wouldn't be granted, she knew she would meet that girl in nun's outfit and that she would kill her again.

However… nothing… the girl wasn't there... 

The room was empty. Only the bed, the clock on the wall, the light bulb on the ceiling and the countless papers glued there. Aside from that, there was—

"Welcome back, marshmallow girl."

Someone suddenly held Alexandra from the back. Her eyes opened wide as sweat rolled down her cheek. She didn't turn back. She didn't want to. All this must have been a nightmare. Yes, a nightmare. It couldn't be real.

The girl behind her pointed to the wall in front of Alexandra with her bandaged right index. "Could you read the time again, please?"

Trembling, Alexendra closed her eyes. She didn't want to look. She didn't want to have anything to do with this. She just wanted to go back to her house. Why did she even accept that assignment in the lower ring? Now she was this thing's toy, living and dying at its whim. She didn't want that. She absolutely didn't want that!

"If you can't, I will help," the doll said. "It is 6.03 PM."

Alexandra slightly opened her eyes. On the clock, it was indeed the time that thing gave earlier, meaning, they were about six minutes before her last death. 

Alexandra gulped down her saliva. "Hey… Can… Can you really turn back in time?"

"I can."

"But… but that… that is…"

"Should I kill you again and turn back?"

Alexandra shivered. 

It couldn't be time manipulation since such a thing was impossible, but whatever it was, it was realistic enough for her not to want to go through that again. It must have been an illusion, but illusions can't create a feeling you never experienced or can't imagine. Alexandra never had her throat sliced open, let alone died before. Even now, she didn't understand what she just experienced, but she knew one thing – it was frightening. 

She started trembling, crumpling the bed's sheets. She didn't understand, and realizing that made her even more afraid. That thing – Shogo – even though it was a lower ringer and a doll, it somehow used a weird form of bibliomancy against her. Alexandra couldn't use any code, and her grimoire was nowhere to be found. Besides, her opponent had a weapon while Alexandra had none. She was totally at a disadvantage here.

"Are you saying that if you had your grimoire and a weapon, you could beat me?"

Alexandra's body twitched. She forgot that her opponent could read her mind. Nothing she could think of would be a secret. 

"(Damn mind reading!!!)"

She was fed up. Who did that lower ringer doll think it was? No matter how powerful, a doll stayed a doll, a being lower than a human. Being afraid of such a thing would be like admitting she was lower than the lowest filth. She was a Wolf! One the greatest line of bibliomancers there was! She couldn't possibly bow before a doll tool! 

Arrogantly, Alexandra glared at Shogo. "If I could use my codes, and my grimoire, you wouldn't even stand a chance!" she said.

Shogo's eye widened in surprise. "Oh~?"

"What? Do you doubt myself? Why don't you try, then?"

Shogo rolled her eye to think, but Alexandra took it as mockery.

"Ah… Why not?" Shogo mumbled, getting off the bed. "I can't do anything about your codes or your grimoire, but I can give you a weapon. Is that okay?"

"What are you afraid of, mind reader? Are you trying to run away now you know the extent of my abilities?" Alexandra provoked.

"Not really," Shogo calmly replied. "Your skin was burned up and then flayed. If I understand correctly, those 'codes' of yours were words tattooed on your back, right? They are lost."

Alexandra remembered her encounter with the fire angel. She lost both her arms in that encounter, and was left to burn. She was sure that at least, that part wasn't an illusion… or was it? Her hands were there, and there was no way a lower ringer could heal such grave injuries.

"Master can heal that much easily."

Alexandra's eyes narrowed. "Your master, huh? Ok, let's say I believe you. Why don't you give me my grimoire, then?!"

"It's not here."

"Don't lie to me! It couldn't have burned! A grimoire cannot be destroyed in such a way!"

"I didn't say it burned. It's not here."

"Liar!!!"

"You don't have to believe me."

Again, Alexandra clenched her teeth. 

She knew how to fight without using bibliomancy, she learned it at the academy. In fact, she was really good at hand to hand combat, but she had no way to be sure this thing could be trusted.

"If you want, I will use only one of my hands. Choose whichever you want. That should compensate for your grimoire, shouldn't it? Moreover…"

A silver knife suddenly fell from under Shogo's right sleeve. "I won't use my knife. What do you say, marshmallow girl? Seems fair to you?"

Alexandra looked at Shogo in disbelief. Contrary to the doll, she couldn't read people's minds to see if they were telling the truth or not. And even if it was telling the truth, her opponent seemed way too confident about her abilities. If they were in an illusion, she probably couldn't win. Even if they weren't, it would know in advance what Alexandra would do next. This wasn't going anywhere. It was a dead end.

"You won't fight?" Shogo asked.

"I don't feel like dying a third time." Alexandra calmly replied.

Shogo looked at Alexandra her mouth slightly opened. "That's surprising. You want to kill me, don't you? Why don't you do it?"

"Hmph. Don't take me for an idiot. I won't fight a battle I know I already lost. When I have my grimoire back, we will fight and I will make you regret everything you did to me today!"

"I didn't do anything yet though."

"You understood me!!!"

"..."

Shogo took up her knife again, which frightened Alexandra. However, this time, she simply put it on Alexandra's laps.

"That was clever, marshmallow girl. If you fought against me…" Shogo suddenly produced another knife from under her left sleeve and slightly pressed its blade against Alexandra's throat, "My other hand would have slipped too."

Alexandra smiled arrogantly. 

As she thought, all this thing was about was acting. When it asked her to choose an arm it wouldn't use, it subtly suggested that Alexandra should choose the right one by using it a lot more than the left. Yet, by its swift move now, it was obvious that this doll was left handed. A drop of sweat rolled down her temp – that Shogo thing wasn't your run of the mill lower ring filth.

Shogo made her second knife disappear in her sleeve again. She then stood close Alexandra's bed, hands joined and slightly bowing. "I was joking. About Master's orders, I mean. She didn't ask me to keep you inside this room. However, you have to stay in the house until she comes back."

"... Huh? What? Are you saying that you killed me for nothing?"

"That's correct."

Alexandra glared at Shogo again. Definitely, she would kill this thing as soon as she could.

"You can try. I will just kill you again and turn back. You can keep my knife if you think it can help."

Shogo turned around and opened the room's door. "I made dinner. It's not poisoned. Come down if you are interested."

On those words, the girl closed the door behind her, leaving Alexandra alone.

"As if I could be interested…" she mumbled.

There was no way she could eat something cooked by her killer – Well, future killer? Past killer? – poisoned or not…

Yet… her belly growled. She never spent a whole day without eating anything. She hardly knew what hunger was, but this sensation was horrible. Her strand of hair seemed down too, trembling from hunger. What could she do? Was it prudent to go down? Wouldn't that thing kill her again? Or wasn't that exactly the excuse it was waiting for? She could easily picture it telling her that she had to die since she didn't accept its invitation. It did kill her just to prove its point earlier.

But, it could also kill her just because she fell into such a simple trap. It could be waiting behind the door to stab her as soon as she got out. This was a possibility she couldn't ignore.

The door suddenly opened again. It was Shogo peeking at Alexandra in a really ominous manner. The latter almost jumped out of bed from panic while her strand stood straight up like an exclamation mark.

"You think too much. Come down to eat, or next time, I will cut your belly open to put the food into it."

Without another word, she closed the door.

Alexandra gulped her saliva again. Now she was clearly threatened. 

In a situation like this, there wasn't much she could do. She was an upper ringer and bibliomancer, but against this puppet, she was powerless. It hurt her pride, but all long as she didn't understand how that thing's powers worked, she had no choice but to lay low.

But she swore to her name one thing…

Once she would be in position of force again, she would kill this thing!

The wolf would break the doll!